Stories
by x-forbiddenrose-x
Summary: Years after the barricade falls, Cosette reads the novel Jane Eyre and through her connections between the novel and her life we finally get to hear her side of Les Miserables. Written to bring some life to Cosette.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Les Miz or Jane Eyre.**

A/N: Sorry the Prologue is so short, but I promise that the chapters will get longer!

**Prologue**

After making sure that the children were tucked into their beds, Cosette went out to the parlor and sunk into her favorite chair. Marius was asleep in his chair, which was right beside hers. Cosette smiled. He looked so much like the young student he had been ten years ago when he slept.

Cosette's attention shifted to the book that lay on the small, well crafted side table beside her chair. Engraved on the front cover were the words _Jane Eyre_. She smiled as happy memories flooded into her head of her birthday party yesterday. Franck and Little Esmée had been so excited as they gave her the gifts they'd made for her- Esmée gave a set of handkerchiefs that she'd embroidered delicately with Cosette's initials and Franck gave a hairbrush that he'd carved himself. Then Marius had come forth with his gift. Cosette had learned to become fond of reading, since it was one of the few things she could do during her secluded days living with her "father" in the house on Rue Plumet. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to secure too many books, and it was the same now. Imagine her delight, then, when Marius had given her a copy of _Jane Eyre_. She'd never heard of the book before, and Marius explained that it had only just been published.

Now Cosette was more eager than ever to start reading.

A/N: So, what do you think? Yes, I know the prologue was boring, but if you bear with me I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Please R&R! Flames are welcome!


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Les Miz or Jane Eyre.**

A/N: The rest of the story will be written in Cosette's POV.

_"The said Eliza, John, and Georgiana were now clustered round their mamma in the drawing room: she lay reclined on a sofa by the fireside, and with her darlings about her (for the time neither quarrelling nor crying) looked perfectly happy. Me, she dispensed from the group…" –Jane Eyre, page one_

As I read through the first few chapters of Jane Eyre, memories from my own childhood couldn't help but come to mind. I hardly remember my mother. My recollections of her consist mostly of snippets of whispered lullabies and a glimpse of a long lock of strawberry blonde hair dangling over my face. Of my real father I know nothing.

When I was very young, my mother had brought me to the Thernadiers' inn. All of my memories become far clearer beginning there. I remember my mother dressing me up in my best clothes and then giving most all her money to the cab driver to take us to the little town. Repeatedly during the cab ride, I asked where we were going, and mother would turn away from me and give a whimpering sound. Finally we pulled up at the inn, where a lanky old man, a fat, middle-aged woman, and two little girls who looked about my age greeted us. My mother said something to the effect of, "Thank you so much for taking care of her."

The old man replied gruffly, "The money, Madame?" My mother quickly crossed his hand with a few coins. The woman seemed enthralled with each circular piece, and she watched over her husband's shoulder as he counted it.

My mother then turned to me and made me promise to be good for Monsieur and Madame Thernadier.

"Where are you going?" I asked anxiously. "Are you leaving me here?" With another whimpering sound, she hurried off towards the cab.

"All right, show's over," the man who I assumed to be Monsieur Thernadier, grumbled. The family trudged inside the inn and I followed. One of the two little girls, starting eyeing up my dress.

"What a pretty dress," she mused.

The woman who I understood to be Madame Thernadier asked, "Do you like it, Eponine?"

"Very much."

"Then you shall have it." My eyes widened in shock.

"It's my dress!" I snapped at Madame Thernadier. "You have no right to give it away!"

"Hold your tongue!" Madame Thernadier cried, slapping me across the face. My hand flew to my cheek. I had never been hurt like that. Tears began to well up in my eyes. "You will have to learn your place here." She turned to the other girl and said, "Azlema, go down to the cellar and fetch something for the ragamuffin to wear." She obeyed and, a few moments later, returned with a tattered skirt and a dirty woman's blouse. Madame Thernadier thrust the pitiful excuses for clothing into my arms and ordered me to go into the back room and change. I carefully slid off my beautiful frock and dressed myself in the ill-fitting rags. Then I thought of Madame Thernadier and her daughters. They couldn't have what was rightfully mine! Well, if I couldn't have it then neither could Eponine. Frantically, I reduced the dress to a pile of fabric and lace. I stood triumphantly over the shards. Soon, though, Madame Thernadier came into the back room, brought by the sound of ripping fabric. Seeing my handiwork, she beat me till I was black and blue. That night, I learned to be submissive.

" '_Come, Miss Jane, don't cry,' said Bessie, as she finished." –Jane Eyre, page twenty-three_

Unlike Jane Eyre, though, I had no Bessie to comfort me when the Thernadiers beat or bullied me. That was how my wild spirit was tamed. Eventually I learned that to do exactly what the Thernadiers asked of me was the easiest way to protect myself from further bruises or cuts. Eponine and Azelma could even command me, and I would do their bidding. I became a slave to the Thernadiers and taught myself never to show my emotions (in public, at least). On the outside, I was like the living dead.

Of course, though, the living dead still have dreams. At first, I hoped that one of the guests at the inn would take pity on me and whisk me away to a better life, but that dream faded away quickly. I went from table to table, taking their empty plates and refilling their cups with meager amounts of wine, and they took absolutely no notice of me. Then I let my fantasies take wing. After my work was completed for the night, I would hide away in my little corner in the darker end of the great room and daydream. I invented a "castle on a cloud" where there were no rowdy guests to serve, floors to sweep, tables to clean, or any sort of work. It was a place where I had rooms filled with the toys, even more beautiful than any that Eponine and Azelma could ever think of owning. My mother was there, too, and she would cuddle me and kiss me. Then someone would call for me and I would spring out of the corner and go do my duty.

Years passed and I neither heard nor saw anything regarding my mother. I felt betrayed. She had left me in this limbo and didn't care! Whenever I got angry, I would take it out on my mother. Then, one night, I was sent to fetch water from the well. I stumbled through the dark, frightened out of my wits, but eventually found the well and retrieved the water. When I returned to the inn, I saw a note on one of the tables. Curious, I picked it up. I was almost totally illiterate at the time, though, and couldn't read it. Azelma strolled up beside me.

"Do you want to know what that note says?" she asked with a sugary-sweetness.

"Yes!" I immediately replied. Azelma laughed.

"Did you actually think I'd do something nice for _you_?" she threw the note into the crackling fire. As the paper burned I could make out two of the few words I could read "Cosette" and "mother". I wept, for I knew that the note was from my mother to me. As much as I was angry at her sometimes, I missed her.

A/N: Please R&R!


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Les Miz or Jane Eyre. 

A/N: Rewritten and so much better.

_"Christmas and the New Year had been celebrated at Gateshead with the usual festive cheer…witnessing the daily appareling of Eliza and Georgiana, and seeing them descend to the drawing-room, dressed out in thin muslin frocks and scarlet sashes, with hair elaborately ringleted…" –Jane Eyre, page thirty-one_

Then, at Christmastime when I was about eight years old, my whole world changed. At first, it seemed that that particular Christmas wouldn't be any different than any of the others I'd spent with the Thernadiers. In fact, I really didn't know much about Christmas. The merry season, to me, was just a time when Eponine and Azelma would show me the candies the money that Saint Nicholas left their shoes. Saint Nicholas never left anything in my shoes, though I left them out faithfully each year. Azelma pointed out that it was because I was a bad girl.

"_I sat there with my doll on my knee, till the fire got low, glancing round occasionally… To the crib I always took my doll…" –Jane Eyre, page thirty-two_

The events of that Christmas Eve went by a blur- there not being enough water for the horses, a beautiful doll in a kiosk, fetching water in the dark, a helpful but strange traveler in a yellow coat, loosing the Thernadieress' money, and playing. All I know is that in the end the traveler in a yellow coat gave me the beautiful doll that I'd seen on display and told me to play. Of course, I'd never really played before, so I didn't know how to go about it. I named the doll Catherine and sang her to sleep, cradling it in my arms while Eponine and Azelma looked on in envy, until I could no longer keep my eyelids from drooping shut. The next morning, I woke to find a gold Louis tucked away in my clog.

" '_Who could want me?' I asked inwardly, as with both hands I turned the stiff door-handle which, for a second or two, resisted my efforts." –Jane Eyre, page thirty-six_

Christmas morning, after joyously tucking the gold Louis into my apron pocket, silently thanking Saint Nicholas for his kindness, and making sure that Catherine was properly taken care of, I crept out of my corner to go about my chores. The last night had been a truly magical one indeed, like one of the fairy tales I'd heard Madame Thernadier telling Eponine and Azelma, but one could only suspect that life was going to go back to usual. It was disappointing, but I choked back the one, salty tear that dared to commence to fall, patted the Louis that resided in my apron pocket, and went out and watered the horses, making sure that I was not to meet the Thernadieress' whip, as I had almost done the previous night.

I went back into the inn and started whipping the tables clean when, by chance, I caught a peculiar conversation.

"Suppose you were relieved of her?" a voice asked.

"Who? Cosette?" the Thernadieress' voice rejoined.

"Yes."

Madame Thernadier's voice rose in jubilation, no doubt she was more than happy to give away such a "Little Miss Toad", as she called me. "Ah, monsieur! My good monsieur! Take her, keep her, take her away, carry her off, sugar her, stuff, drink, and feed her, and be blessed by the holy Virgin and all the saints in heaven!"

The other voice replied indifferently, "Agreed."

"Really? You will take her away?"

"I will."

"Immediately?"

"Immediately. Call the child."

"Cosette!" the Thernadieress screeched. For a few moments I stood frozen, not really know whether to feel fearful or blithe. I was to leave the wretched inn, but for what kind of life? Would I be set to work in some dirty factory? I'd never seen a factory before, but I'd heard some of the few female travelers who came through tell about their horrid foremen, how they could hardly breathe as they bent over machines, and how their pay wasn't near enough to support themselves.

I heard rustling and footsteps as Monsieur Thernadier and another man came into the room, and I ran to my corner. Little of what was said reached my ears aside from the word "francs" which definitely was said quite a bit, as I was still brooding over my fear of being forced to work in a factory. Several times, I tried to convince myself that whoever was going to take me away was a good person who would be good and kind to me and feed me sweets every one and a while. Unfortunately, I am one of those people who, once they convince themselves that one thing is going to happen; they can't open their mind to any other possibilities. So I clutched Catherine close to me and rocked back and forth in my little corner.

"Bring Cosette," one of the men said. I crouched down and hid under a table, hoping that I wouldn't be found. Eventually, though, Madame Thernadier's ugly face came into view. I braced myself for a sharp slap but none came.

"Cosette, come quick," she told me. I shivered. Her voice had been almost gentle. Cautiously, I crawled out and stood, my knees shaking. I turned around, and was met by the face of the mysterious traveler in a yellow coat from the previous night.

The traveler looked me in the eye, handed me the bundle which he had so dutifully carried all of last night and said kindly, "My dear, take this and go dress yourself quickly." I scurried off to the back room where I had reduced my pretty pink frock to a pile of rubbish when I first came to the inn. Inside was a proper outfit for a girl my age: a wool dress, apron, petticoat, scarf, stockings, and a little pair of lace-up ankle-boots. For a moment I was delighted, but then I noticed that the whole collection of clothing was black. Could it not be some other, pretty color? I sighed and dressed. At least it was some decent clothing. I had learned that it was best to take what one got and not whine or question. When my old apron dropped to the ground, I heard the clink of metal. Having realized that I'd almost forgotten the Louis, I fetched it from the dirty pocket dropped it into the pocket of the new apron. I compared the old apron to the new one, and seeing the starch differences between the two, for a moment, I allowed myself to feel like a fine lady. Fine ladies never visited the inn, but I knew a romanticized description of their life and expensive jewelry and clothing from none other than Madame Thernadier, Eponine, and Azelma.

I emerged from the back room, the man handed me Catherine, he grasped my little hand in his, and we walked out of the inn together. Somewhere, I heard a lark singing. The townsfolk had nicknamed me "the Lark". I had been one lark who had never sung, though. On this day, though, as I disembarked from Montfermeil, I sang along with the lark under my breath.

A/N: Please R&R!


	4. The First Interlude

**Disclaimer: I do not own Les Miz or Jane Eyre.**

A/N: x-forbiddenrose-x proudly presents: the interlude! Throughout this fic, I will scatter short drabbles that just give you a little peak at Cosette's life with Marius and the kids.

**The First Interlude**

Marius stirred in his chair and caused me to lift my head out of my book. He looked over at me and smiled.

"It's late, dear," he said with a yawn. "We ought to retire for the night." I looked up at the old grandfather clock that stood in the corner. The little hands showed that it was two o'clock at night.

"I suppose you're right." I placed a thin velvet ribbon that served as my bookmark between the pages and set the novel down on the table. Marius stretched and walked towards our bedroom, my soft footsteps trailing behind him. Just as we slipped under the covers, Esmée wandered into our room.

"Papa," she whispered.

"Yes, Esmée?" Marius replied gently.

"I had a nightmare."

I sat up in bed a bit and asked, "What was your dream about?"

"I dreamt about a horrible monster beneath my bed, and..." She shivered.

"Do you want me to make sure that there aren't any monsters beneath your bed?" Marius asked.

"Would you please, Papa?"

"Of course." Father and daughter went on a monster hunt together. A few moments later, Marius returned.

"Any monsters?" I asked.

"No," he replied with a laugh.

A/N: Please R&R!


	5. A Note to My Readers

Dear Readers,

I am thinking about abandoning this fic, considering that I have not been able to find much originality in it, and I fear that it will simply becoming a retelling of our beloved _Les Miserables_. Actually, at the moment, that is my greatest fear at the moment. If you all want me to continue, I might be able to revamp my approach to this a little, but I don't want to use up all the energy that, at this moment, I direly need to continue with my own busy life, to find that it has been wasted. Please review and telling me whether you think this should be abandoned and if I have enough reviews urging me on, I'll continue, although I can't really promise quick updates.

Yours truly,

x-forbiddenrose-x


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